Tim Schafer explains why Double Fine don't do PC

Tim Schafer is the co-creator of Monkey Island and the man behind great games like Grim Fandango and Psychonauts. In spite of his great history on the platform, his development company, Double Fine, have stopped bringing their games to the PC. Now, he's explained why.

Writing on an updated FAQ on the Double Fine website, Schafer points the finger at publishers, saying "as a developer we do not have final say in the SKU plan for our games. That is the decision of the person investing the money, i.e. the publisher," adding that "we have much of the technology in place to produce PC versions of all these games, but there is still some more work required to make them shippable and that costs money. So far, our publishers have not elected to fund that work. Not because they hate PC gamers, but because they don't see enough financial reward."

So far PC gamers have missed out on Brutal Legend, a heavy metal brawler starring Jack Black, and the cute Halloween adventure, Costume Quest. Double Fine have just announced their new game, Stacking, but it won't be coming to PC.

Schafer says "Double Fine does care about PC gamers, and we always push for a PC version, and will continue to do so in the future," Schafer explained. "If we ever get super stinking rich here, with enough money to fund PC versions of our games, then we will go back and make them ourselves! Oh man, wouldn't that be cool?"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom stopped being a productive human being when he realised that the beige box under his desk could play Alpha Centauri. After Deus Ex and Diablo 2 he realised he was cursed to play amazing PC games forever. He started writing about them for PC Gamer about six years ago, and is now UK web ed.